AMHERST – A third company interested in bringing an off-site medical marijuana dispensary to Amherst will come before the Select Board later this month.
GTI-Massachusetts NP Corp. is seeking a letter of support from the board, which would be submitted to the state Department of Public Health, for a dispensary at 169 Meadow St., a 3.3-acre parcel zoned for light industrial uses.
Representatives from GTI-Massachusetts will make a presentation at the Select Board’s March 21 meeting, said Debra Puppel, assistant to the town manager.
The 169 Meadow St. building currently houses Kimballs Auction and Estate Services, but the site, which is connected to a nearly 44-acre parcel, is being sold by W.D. Cowls, Inc. to Hadley farmer Joe Czajkowski, said Cowls President Cinda Jones.
The request follows letters of support the board issued on behalf of Mass Alternative Care of Chicopee, which wants to open a medical marijuana facility at 55 University Drive, a building that formerly housed the Hangar Pub & Grill, and MassMedicum Corp. of Easton, which hopes to have a medical marijuana dispensary in a 2,000-square-foot building to be constructed at 85 University Drive.
A letter from GTI-Massachusetts NP Corp. President Peter Kadens was first sent to the Select Board in December explaining that the company “is contemplating siting a Registered Marijuana Dispensary in Amherst, Massachusetts.”
GTI-Massachusetts was registered as a nonprofit corporation on July 2, 2015, according to state records. GTI-Massachusetts is an offshoot of Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, which opened a dispensary in the Chicago suburb of Mundelein, Illinois, in November.
The only dispensary currently operating in Hampshire County is New England Treatment Access at 118 Conz St. in Northampton.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
